🎵 Metaproof Music

Hey friends, this is Sophia from 🎵 Metaproof Music, the weekly newsletter where we keep you informed on how the metaverse and web3 are changing the music industry. 

Stay informed via our Twitter and Subscribe here to get your metaverse music news every Tuesday.

💌 A quick thanks to our friends…

Our friends at Player Zero are changing the music game by being a record label for the metaverse of Animated Virtual Artists (AVAs) that create hit songs like “Deeper” by Amari. Check them out today!

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📲 By the numbers

The music NFT industry remained bullish as 2022 wrapped up. Here are some indicators (Source):

• Amid the brutality of the ongoing crypto slump, music NFTs haven’t succumbed to downwards market pressure. The industry is already valued at about $1.2B. 

• Come 2032, music NFTs are estimated to be worth around $4.24B, according to Market Decipher. 

• Winamp released its new version 5.9.1 for desktop players, allowing users to play music NFTs. 

• DJ Justin "3LAU" Blau, with the release of his single “Too Late For Love” on his own NFT music and royalty-splitting platform Royal, distributed 50% of the master streaming royalty rights to fans through 333 NFTs. 

📫 News & trends

💳 Mastercard launches web3-based accelerator for musicians

Mastercard is entering the metaverse with a web3-based accelerator program designed to help link music artists to mentors and fans via NFTs and events in the virtual world. 

Dubbed the Mastercard Artist Accelerator, the platform will harness web3 technologies on the Polygon blockchain in its goal to help five emerging artists - from DJs to producers to musicians - access the skills, tools, and overall access they need to forge a musical path in the growing digital economy. 

And what’s in it for participants? Get access to special events, music releases, and other perks, along with a curriculum teaching you how to build and own your brand through web3 activities such as minting NFTs, representation in the virtual world, as well as community building. 

🎆 Calvin Harris enters the metaverse for first ever VR concert (with dolphins)

It’s a metaverse party Scottish producer and DJ Calvin Harris is headlining with the announcement of his immersive virtual performance later this month on TikTok LIVE. Slated for Friday, January 13th, the star DJ’s first-ever VR concert is free for viewing in 2D through his official TikTok account. Fans in Europe and Asia, on the other hand, will be able to experience it in 3D via PICO virtual reality headsets. Harris himself will appear as a virtual avatar in the digitally animated performance that seeks to “take fans on a musical journey through Calvin’s virtual universe.” 

🔥 Here are the biggest music NFTs in December as year ends 95% down from January

It was a wild 2022 for NFTs all right, with volumes down by 95% with just $283M traded in December. There’s no stopping musicians from embracing web3, though, with the likes of legacy artists Armin van Buuren and Styles P, and crypto-native musicians 3LAU and Daniel Allan having high-profile drops. The first “billion club” NFT was released and unlocked streaming royalties in a track amassing over a billion Spotify plays. The independent scene roared on Sound.xyz, the largest platform for indie musicians, with a seventh-straight month of rising volume.

🟪 The Hume Collective’s favorite moments from 2022

Hume looks back at 2022 when it “showed the world the power of a metastar.” Its first metastar Angelbaby performed at two major events, opening for Chromeo and T-Pain at Fluf Hause LA and played at SXSW festival as one of the first metastars to ever perform for a live audience. The NFT collective also announced its $11.7M series A funding on Forbes Magazine, along with the launch of The Spot, a platform whose decisions on metastars’ careers are decided by the community. The Humies were quick to choose “All Gold Spaceship” featuring Gino The Ghost as Angelbaby’s next single release, leading to one of the largest music NFT mints from an artist on their own platform. All 300 music NFTs of All Gold Spaceship sold out instantly - a show of strength and vibrancy in the Hume community. 

💬 9 reasons why you should welcome music’s web3 future

Web3 is coming for music, if these things are any indication:

• Artist-fan connectivity, where web3 connects artists to fans directly and makes the relationship portable and integrated across different experiences

•  Data portability, where you can take all of your interactions with you everywhere you go - and control it

• Proof of fandom, where fans can unlock access to fan activities across realms of experience and prove they were present at a show or supported before the group eventually blew up

• Increased fandom, as web3 incentivizes fandom and deeper connections. Listeners become fans, fans become collectors!

🎶 Video: FLUF World Scenes and Sounds

Interested to know how FLUF World, a metaverse ecosystem of digital collectibles, develops the sick tunes behind its dynamic NFTs? The platform teamed up with New Zealand-based producer, vocalist, and instrumentalist Fairfields to create the beats for its FLUF World Scenes and Sounds collection. Dive right into their creative process in this video. 

🤔 Music related DAOs – what’s out there?

Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) can be viewed this way: internet communities with a shared goal, a shared bank account. They represent a new kind of corporate structure utilizing blockchain and where the emphasis is on individual contribution rather than the amount of capital invested. Music DAOs are on the rise; one example of the “shared bank account” is DAO record label Dreams Never Die, which aims to build financial sustainability around brand-new artists and form an aligned community participating actively in discovering, harnessing, and distributing the growing roster. It seeks to tackle problems around artist attribution and fight predatory practices hounding artist payouts. Mudd DAO, PHLOTE, Good Karma Records, and more are leading the way when it comes to music DAOs and the bigger music metaverse vision globally. 

🎼 Metamorphic – a-first-of-its-kind 3D/VR music album

Web3 collective BeetsDAO has introduced metamorphic.gg, touted as a first-of-its-kind 3D/VR music album journey that “pushes the boundaries of installation art, experience, and the album format itself.” The company has worked with electronic music artist DAILLY for the last nine months to deliver the platform, which in total is considered a culmination of over two years in the studio with “bespoke, modular, generative AV synths.” Presented in 3D/VR and shot in LIDAR, Metamorphic is dubbed an ultra-low-supply, 10-album collection, with each of the 100 1/1 environments an immersive take on the origins of electronic music in East London. 

🤖 AI amps up trouble for the music industry

Eternity, made up of 11 virtual characters - non-human, hyper-real avatars made with AI - is the brainchild of South Korean TV screenwriter Park Jieun. Park sees a unique advantage in having virtual artists, as K-pop stars often struggle with physical limitations, mental distress, and similar challenges that come with being human. AI K-pop idols, in case you’re wondering, are made with deep real AI technology, which isn’t a far cry from deep fake technology. This, Park says, uses the European Union’s draft ethical AI guidelines in the creation of the avatars. 

💽 Akshay K Agarwal comes up with first ever metaverse music video with Daisy Shah and Danish Alfaaz

Indian music album director Akshay K Agarwal is releasing the metaverse song "Ex Se Achhi 1X," featuring actor Daisy Shah and singer Danish Alfaaz. Shooting the song in a metaverse environment is an altogether different experience, with the song shot in Chroma green screen so it can be converted into the metaverse. Agarwal calls it a “fun and peppy song,” with a great vibe extending to the outfits, tech, set and lighting. The country’s music industry has evolved over the years with VFX and the metaverse, he adds, with experiments done more deliberately today. While people used to be skeptical about experimenting with new things and carried on with the usual “monotonous kind of work,” lots of highly realistic VFX work is taking over, coupled with set and lighting innovations as well as fast-evolving video graphics. 

🪐 Happy ASTRO day – presale Mint is at 3pm PST 

Web3 animation company ASTRO has opened its premint sale at 3PM PST on January 9th. Wth the mint taking place on ASTRO.io, the platform reminds anyone holding an edition from any of the ASTRO artists’ previous drops on Sound XYZ will have access to its presale. Public sale, on the other hand, is slated for Jan 10th at 3Pm PST, according to its Twitter. In 2022, rapper and NFT collector Snoop Dogg partnered with ASTRO to release the music video for “Crip Ya Enthusiasm,” featuring a digital version of Snoop Dogg styled as comedian Larry David. ASTRO developed the settings and the heroes of the music video using Unreal Engine and released a collection of 11,111 NFTs, with artworks featuring various donuts that unlock assets from the music video. 

🇮🇳 Indian music legend AR Rahman launches metaverse platform

On the day he turned 56, musician and music director AR Rahman - most known internationally for sensational pop song “Jai Ho” - announced the launch of his metaverse platform Katraar, with a promotional clip shared across his social media platforms. Aiming to open doors for musicians who are just starting out, Rahman’s online music store lets artists post their songs and start making money from the get go. Some of his original compositions will also be made accessible on Katraar. With NFTs, musicians find a new lease in life as they gain control of their work and directly connect with their fanbase - considered a huge game changer for the industry in India and anywhere in the world. 

🎹 19 moments from music’s exploration of the metaverse in 2022

The battle over Meta’s acquisition of music/fitness VR startup Within is well within the top spot, with the deal challenged by US regulator Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 2022. FTC claimed that Meta already owned VR fitness app Beat Saber, and so the two organizations headed to court in December and marked the beginnings of a pivotal fight. Last year, Decentraland’s second Metaverse Music Festival, held in November, also showcased mighty new partnerships and fresh resurrections like LimeWire as a new tech brand, web3 music startups BeatBlox and Soundr, and big-name artists such as Bjork. Fortnite maker Epic Games also worked in 2022 with superduo Silk Sonic (Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak) to launch an in-game radio station featuring their music - a new model for music licensing, and in gaming no less. 

💸 Finance buzz

• Web3 music platform Pianity raised $6.5M in a seed round in March 2022, enabling it to keep building its platform and launch initiatives like Pianity Band, a series of quests and challenges rewarding users with the native token $PIA. (Source)

• IMPALA, a pan-European organization for the independent music community, has renewed its One Step Ahead initiative, which enables independent music companies and trade associations across Europe to anticipate and identify trends, challenges and opportunities in the digital music market. Key topics include opportunities and challenges around web3, the metaverse and NFTs. (Source)

🗣️ Quote of the week

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All content on this newsletter is for informational purposes only and does not aim to serve as or replace expert investment advice.

If you are a startup building in the metaverse / web3 ecosystem and are raising capital, please reach out to Sfermion. Sfermion is an investment firm focused on accelerating the emergence of the metaverse.

Stay informed via our Twitter and Subscribe here to get your metaverse music news every Tuesday.